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Willamette physics professor wins grant to support undergraduate research assistants

Willamette University physics professor David Altman has earned a Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, which recognizes the leading role undergraduate colleges and universities play in the development of future scientists.

Altman will use the grant to purchase laboratory equipment and support four undergraduate research assistants in his lab. Together they are working to understand how the protein myosin works as a molecular motor, and they will build an optical trap system to mimic the cellular forces that regulate myosin function.